Oblivious to the dealings being made in secret, Superstes had decided to pay visit to an old place of her memories.
She traveled by foot but didn't simply walk.
'Sir Solitar said to take every opportunity to train' she thought back to one of her lessons.
Still, the distance separating Solitar's fortress and the area she was heading for wasn't in any way small, even when running at great speed for a good portion of the way, it took her five months to make it there.
The roads she had taken had almost all been deserted of all life, the people feared going out when the monsters ruled their countries, the monsters had left their original habitats to join the legions of the Obsidian Queen and the animals seemed as scared as the people.
She hadn't had the occasion to witness what had become of the lands conquered by the monsters, she had gone through Amor but it had still been in an active war, everything seemed desolate and bleak there.
'Amor has probably fallen as well...'
After that, it seemed like the monsters had encountered so little resistance that there was been barely any need to engage in any fights at all.
She put her thoughts to rest and stared ahead.
She was back home.
The village, a place her much younger self had seen as a little paradise had seemingly not been touched ever since all of the villagers were killed and devoured in a single night.
All of them, except for her.
She had to admit, she had failed to spare much thoughts about all of the other people killed by Axio, she only ever had her parents in mind, as well as that guard, Morly.
She hadn't known the others well enough to feel that bad about their deaths, she hadn't seen their corpses like for her parents either.
The image was still etched in her mind, always hanging around her thoughts and dreams.
That terrible night, she had been awake for no particular reason when she heard a strange noise coming from her parent's bedroom, it had sounded like someone spitting out water after drinking wrong.
Now she knew that it was the sound of her father's last struggle.
Despite not realising the severity of the situation at the time, she remembered still being terrified and hesitant to go check, she couldn't get any words out as she subconsciously began taking steps forward.
Opening the door, she saw him.
Axiolypito, a little, ugly and vulgar wretch with his back crooked as knelt in between her father and mother.
He was tearing and ripping into their faces, fishing out their eyes and tongues, making disgusting noises as he gorged on their bodies.
Like a beast, he was too preocuppied with his food to notice her immediately, continuing his grostesque feast and going as far as devouring their teeth.
The sound of their teeth being crushed by his was the worst of them all.
But even worse than the sounds he was making and the sight of her parents, now hollow vessels, was Axiolypito's expression.
It was when one was alone, or at least believed so, that one could truly peer into their personality.
He wasn't aware of Superstes's presence and thus, wasn't putting on a show or trying to parade as something that he wasn't.
He was being himself and his expression showed neither pleasure, hate or anything else.
There was nothing in particular to see, it was like seeing a wolf devouring a deer carcass, she couldn't understand what was going on in his head.
Despite this, his mannerism was still awfully human-like, creating an uncanny scene.
Then, after who knows who long of her staring in total shock and petrification, he turned around, his eyebrows arching up in surprise, he looked around the room and behind her.
Confirming that it was just a single child, he tried to rush toward her, but as it was, he had alreadu begun to to some work on guts of her father, standing directly in his opened belly cavity.
He struggled to undo the guts holding him back and the blood that covered him nearly entirely made him all slippery, allowing Superstes to snap out of it and take off running.
Had Axiolypito decided to enjoy the warmth of someone's bloody insides, he would have caught up to her and killed her just like all of the others.
Even better for her, she just happened to get out of the house just as Morly arrived, the rest was history.
She stepped into her house.
It seemed...
Awfully small, the doorway was just high enough to her to get through, just a bit lower and her forehead would have kissed the frame.
She went into every room, leaving her parent's bedroom last.
It truly had been left untouched, the bloody bedsheets and bloodstains had been left as they were, only what was left of the corpses had been taken away.
Standing in the doorway like back then, she simply froze, her eyes were itchy but refused to cry, her teeth clattered as if she had been struck by intense cold.
It all came to a stop soon enough, she looked at the floor and breathed out heavily, this place wasn't good for her, she felt like she shouldn't be allowed to step foot here until she had taken care of everything else.
This was the last resting place of her parents in her eyes, the common grave they had most certainly been stacked into wasn't deserving of such a title.
She walked back out and walked up to the center of the road, she looked toward the place Morly had battled the decoy sent by Axiolypito.
She hated his very core but the bastard was cunning and vicious, looking back, it was clear that every strange occurences people had mentioned back then had been due to him, he had remained hidden from them whilst going into the houses at night.
He must have found great enjoyment in tormenting the villagers in all sorts of ways, stealing things, moving objects around, terrifying children as if he was a boogeyman...
Even back then, he had somehow been able to create a decoy, using its death to ease up the minds of everyone and send the guards away, he must have grown bored of messing with them, and decided to turn them into sustenance.
'Must be the same way that monster I fought was created'
Axiolypito definitely had a way of producing all sorts of wretches, this was among his rosters of abilities for certain.